In Eritrea, India, Philippines, Singapore, and Sri Lanka polygamy is only legal for Muslims.

In Nigeria and South Africa, polygamous marriages under customary law and for Muslims are legally recognised.

In Mauritius, polygamous unions have no legal recognition. Muslim men may, however, "marry" up to four women, but they do not have the legal status of wives.

Polygamy is legal in 57 out of nearly 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of them being Muslim majority countries situated in Africa and Asia. In most of these states, polygyny is allowed and legally sanctioned. Polyandry is illegal in virtually every state in the world. The rest of the sovereign states do not recognize polygamous marriages.

Malaysia (only for Muslims): Legal for Muslim men who can demonstrate the financial capability, judicial consent from existing wives, up to a maximum of 4 wives. Under section 494 of Chapter XX of Penal Code, non-Muslim offenders shall be punished up to 7 years imprisonment.

Maldives: Permitted for all Muslim men with consent from the first wife.

Myanmar

Oman

Pakistan: Permitted for all Muslim men with consent from the first wife.

Palestinian territories

Philipinnes (only for Muslims): Permitted for Muslim men only. Others face six to twelve years of imprisonment.

Saudi Arabia

Singapore (only for Muslims): Legal for Muslim men who can demonstrate the financial means to support all potential wives, with consent from existing wives, up to a maximum of 4 wives.

Ghana (not criminalized): Illegal under civil law, but recognized under customary law and Sharia law.

Guinea

Madagascar

Mauritius

Mayotte (French territory) (not criminalized): Considered to be de facto illegal since a referendum sponsored by France in March 2009, forcing the island to comply with the French laws.[3][4] However, pre-existing Muslim marriages are currently still valid.

China: Polygamy is illegal under Marriage Law passed in 1980. This replaced a similar 1950 prohibition.[5] In Hong Kong, polygamy ended with the passing of the Marriage Act of 1971.

Georgia

Israel

Japan

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Mongolia

Nepal: Criminalized with sentence of one to three years and fine up to Rs 25,000. However, the second marriage is not annulled and once the completion of the sentence, the second wife carries equal footing as the first one. Even the government pension provided to the wife of the retired government employee after his death is split by the government.[6]

Turkey: Polygamy was criminalized in 1926 with the adoption of the Turkish Civil Code, part of Atatürk's secularist reforms. Penalties for illegal polygamy are up to 5 years imprisonment.[9] Turkey has long been known for its promotion of secularism,[10][11][12] and has introduced measures establishing stricter bars against polygamy; these were passed by the ruling moderate Islamist AK Parti as well. In March 2009, AK Parti effectively banned polygamists from entering or living in the country.[13]

Bulgaria: Illegal and punishable with up to three years imprisonment.[14]

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Estonia

Finland: The official prosecutor is obliged to take all cases to a court where more two persons are married to each other and such relationships cease to exist after the court has decided it.[15] Polygamic marriages performed abroad may be recognized only in narrow occasions, for instance in child custody matters.[16]

Germany: Illegal, punishable with fine or prison time up to three years.[17]

Greece

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

Kosovo

Latvia

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia

Malta

Moldova

Monaco

Montenegro

Netherlands: Marriage between more than two individuals prohibited; however, a samenlevingscontract may include more than two partners.

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Romania: Bigamy, defined as marriage conducted by a person which is already married, is punishable by up to 2 years in prison or fine. Knowingly marrying a married person is punishable by up to 1 year in prison or by fine.[18]

Russian Federation

San Marino

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden: Sweden recognizes polygamous marriages performed abroad, and all spouses are subsequently registered as spouses in the population register, but other spouses than the first spouse may not always be recognized in all occasions.[19][20][21] Only the first spouse is recognized as a spouse when decisions are made on residence permits and social security.[19] A Swede may have four spouses registered at most.[20]

Switzerland: Polygamy is illegal by law. But polygamous marriage conducted in another country may be accepted or rejected on a case-by-case basis.[22]

Ukraine

United Kingdom: Foreign polygamous marriages grant some welfare benefits only, but this is being phased out with the introduction of Universal Credit.[23] Polygamy is treated as bigamy if a second marriage (or civil partnership) is contracted in the United Kingdom. No legal recognition is extended to spouses of subsequent marriages after the first marriage is recognised even when subsequent marriages are contracted abroad.

Australia: Polygamous marriages cannot be performed in Australia, but polygamous relationships are still common within some indigenous Australian communities.[24] Polygamous marriages entered into abroad are recognised for limited purposes only.[25]

Fiji

Kiribati

Marshall Islands

Micronesia

Nauru

New Zealand: Polygamous marriages cannot be performed in New Zealand, but are permissible if they are legally performed in a country that permits polygamy.

In most countries, a person who marries a person while still being lawfully married to another commits bigamy. In all such cases, the second marriage is considered legally null and void. Besides the second and subsequent marriages being void, the bigamist is also liable to other penalties, which vary between jurisdictions.

The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand permit some benefits for spouses of polygamous marriages performed in other countries. Sweden recognizes polygamic marriages performed abroad,[19][20] see § Europe. In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, which allows simultaneous, additional marital rights and obligations for already married persons, prior to married persons becoming divorced from their existing spouse.[26]

Predominantly Christian nations usually do not allow polygamy, with a handful of exceptions such as the Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Zambia. Myanmar (formally known as Burma) is also the only predominately Buddhist nation to allow for civil polygamous marriages.[29]

Polyandry is de facto the norm in rural areas of Tibet, although it is illegal under Chinese family law. Polygamy continues in Bhutan[30] in various forms as it has since ancient times. It is also found in parts of Nepal,[31] even despite its formal illegality in the country.[32]

In 2000, the United Nations Human Rights Committee reported that polygamy violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), citing concerns that the lack of "equality of treatment with regard to the right to marry" meant that polygamy, restricted to polygyny in practice, violates the dignity of women and should be outlawed.[33] Specifically, the reports to UN Committees have noted violations of the ICCPR due to these inequalities[34] and reports to the General Assembly of the UN have recommended it be outlawed. [35][36] Many Muslim states are not signatories of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei, Oman, and South Sudan; therefore the UN treaty doesn't apply to these countries.[37] It has been argued by the Department of Justice of Canada that polygyny is a violation of International Human Rights Law.[38]

United Kingdom: Foreign polygamous marriages grant some welfare benefits only, but this is being phased out with the introduction of Universal Credit.[23] Polygamy is treated as bigamy if a second marriage (or civil partnership) is contracted in the United Kingdom. No legal recognition is extended to spouses of subsequent marriages after the first marriage is recognised even when subsequent marriages are contracted abroad.

In November 2011 the court released its 335 page long decision, which was that the criminal offence of polygamy is indeed constitutional, but that it should not be used to prosecute minors for having taken part of a polygamous marriage.[46] Chief Justice Robert Bauman conceded that there is a conflict between this law and some civil right principles, but stated that there are other and "more important" issues which in this case take precedence. He wrote (as quoted by CBC news[46]):

I have concluded that this case is essentially about harm. More specifically, Parliament's reasoned apprehension of harm arising out of the practice of polygamy. This includes harm to women, to children, to society and to the institution of monogamous marriage.

Bauman argued that there are cases where the "wives" (who may be rather young; sometimes as young as 12 years) are abducted and abused, but because they believe in a faith promoting polygamy, they are not willing to bring complaints to the authorities. He reasons that these offences sometimes may be stopped by applying anti-polygamy legislation.

The decision was welcomed by the Attorney General of British Columbia, and by a representative for the group Stop Polygamy in Canada. Likewise, according to the CBC news,[46] some polyamorous groups in Canada expressed their relief, since Bauman had stated that the law shouldn't apply to them unless they decide to formalize their unions.

Brazil – A legally married person or a married couple cohabiting with one or more sexual partner(s) is prohibited by law. Known as bigamy, it is punishable by two to six years of imprisonment,[49] and is valid for every Brazilian citizen, including naturalized ones.

In May 5, 2011 long-term cohabitation between non-married persons, known as união estável ("stable union"), was extended to same-sex couples, recognized as a family entity and granted all 112 rights of married couples – its only legal difference from marriage is that it does not change individual civil status from single to married.

One of such uniões estáveis, in Tupã, São Paulo, was registered as including a man and two women, as reported in August 2012. Doubts were thrown on its legality, as it was unclear whether it is in accordance with Brazilian law.[50] It has not, however, set any precedence, and higher Brazilian courts have not permitted the practice.

A second união estável-bound trio took place in the city of Rio de Janeiro, this time between three women, in October 2015. Unlike in the 2012 case, same-sex marriage in Brazil has been legalized ever since, and the legal situation in Brazil, in respect to the expansion of what is legally considered a family, is reported by the notary herself to be increasingly based on the principles of human dignity, plurality, and legal openness to the continuous development of society and culture, as well as the fact that, in Brazilian civil law, things that are not prohibited by the law can be argued to be allowed. However, doubts were again thrown on the legality of such a union, due to how both the continuous legal and social hegemony of monogamy in Brazil, and its law prohibiting bigamy in marriage, will affect jurisprudence.[51][52]

Edmunds Act, which reinforced Morrill by making polygamy a felony in the jurisdictions covered by Morrill; also prohibited "bigamous" or "unlawful cohabitation" as a misdemeanor offense, which removed the need to prove that actual marriages had occurred in order to obtain convictions on polygamy related charges.